Ramen Jiro Meguro-ten (ラーメン二郎目黒店): Meguji- The University Students Favorite; Meguro, Tokyo
One of the questions I get asked quite frequently is, for first timers, which Jiro location do I recommend most. Well it honestly depends on whether you’re a Tokyo resident or if you’re coming here as a tourist, and if you are a tourist, how vested you are in making a trek just for a bowl of ramen. Typically the question comes from tourists and in that case I usually point them towards the Meguro Jiro location. In my opinion, one of the most daunting things about Jiro is the amount of food you get even for the small bowl, and the unwritten rule that thou shall not leave noodles and veggies behind. Some places are stricter than others, but one location where it usually isn’t a problem is Meguro since they scale their bowls down in comparison. Located a healthy walk from Meguro station, it is also one of the shops in central Tokyo so it won’t take an hour long train ride just to get here. Meguro is however one of the more popular shops, especially among university students, so be prepared for at least a 30 minute wait in queue. Shop is closed on Wednesdays, but the rest of the days they are open from 11:00-16:00 for lunch and 18:00-21:00 for dinner. Aiming to come here 15 minutes before they open or around 15:00 is probably your best bet to avoid long lines. Peak lunch is the worst time to go.
One of the other benefits of Meguro is their super simple menu. As you can see they have 6 options. First row is the Sho Ramen, or small ramen, which comes with normal amount of pork chashu, extra chashu, and double chashu. Next row is the Dai Ramen with the same corresponding chashu amounts. So Jiro is pretty cheap to begin with and most locations never charge more than 1000 yen for their small ramen, but Meguro is by far the cheapest of the 41. The regular bowl is only 500 yen. Although be warned, the price does reflect the amount of food you get and the bowls are probably about 2/3 the size of any other location. Chashu potion is also quite small here so my recommended order is the Sho Buta.
If this is your first time at a Ramen Jiro, they have a very specific way in which customers are seated. Grab your tickets beforehand and then grab a place in the back of the line. Sometimes the chef will shout from the kitchen what your order is and that’s the time to flash them your ticket. When a seat opens up, one of the assistants will let you know where to sit and you’ll place your ticket on the top counter. Wait for the chef to cook up your ramen and once he’s finished he’ll as you “Ninnikuwa?”, which is the signal for the which toppings you want and how much. Yasai (vegetables consisting of blanched cabbage and bean sprouts), Ninniku (pressed garlic), Abura (pork fat), and Karame (seasoning sauce) are all free of charge and when the chef asks what you’d like, you call out which toppings you would like and how much of each. If you say each topping, you will get an average amount of those toppings. If you want a little extra of a certain topping, you can say “Mashi” after which ever topping you want more of. “Mashi-Mashi” will be even more of said topping. So for instance, if you wanted no garlic, extra vegetables, and normal pork fat and seasoning sauce, you would say “Yasai mashi, abura, karame”. If you want extra of all the toppings you can say “Zen-Mashi”, or everything extra. I opted to order the Sho Ramen with four slices of pork char siu and asked for “Yasai, Ninniku, Abura” for a bit extra of veggies, garlic and pork fat.
So I didn’t take my own advice and actually only got the Sho Ramen since I was hitting another shop later that day, so that’s what is pictured above. My call for the day was my usual Ninniku, Abura, Karame. I love garlic so I always end up getting extra, but I would probably skip on the abura here unless you get extra veggies to go along with it because it is quite a lot in relation to the amount of noodles and veggies in a normal bowl. I would probably skip on the karame as well given it was a bit much for the Meguro portion size. Soup wise, for first timers I definitely think this will give you the best introduction to Jiro. It is on the lighter end as it is a low emulsification soup and goes a bit heavy on the shoyu tare to help mask some of the funkiness of the pork. Some of the other shops are quite intense in that respect so it might be a bit of a shock as your first bowl. The MSG though is no joke here and you can see the master dumping spoonful in so have a bottle of water on hand to help fight a bit of the sodium intake mid meal. If you want the full recommended experience, it is also recommended that you flip the noodles over on to the veggies and let the bean sprouts and cabbage marinate in the soup while you attack the noodles, but honestly this is pretty subjective so up to the eater to decide.
As for the noodles, I think this is exactly what ramen nerds think of when they hear Ramen Jiro. The reverse cut look in which the strands are textured and uneven seems to be the prototype Jiro noodles in the west and is served here at this Meguro location. Some of the newer shops have opted for a more flat, regular cut noodle so if you’re looking for this old school Jiro look, this is the place to hit. It is rather thick and voluptuous with a low water content so the strands soak up a fair amount of soup as it sits in your bowl. The pairing is honestly amazing and really similar to what you would have if you went to the HQ location in Mita. Each bite bursts with a pork flavor from the soup it soaked up, but is immediately followed by the nutty notes of the flour. As for the pork chashu and veggies, it’s honestly not the best. Meguro tries to keep costs as low as they can to serve their bowls at this price for the countless university students who stop by daily, so don’t expect mind blowing chashu. Cabbage is also quite expensive in relation to the bean sprouts so the ratio is about as low as it can get.
I wouldn’t say Meguro is my favorite Jiro and wouldn’t even sniff my top ten, but it is a huge favorite for many Jirorians so it is highly rated on many ramen rankings. If you’re looking for an authentic Jiro feel without the huge portion sizes and intimidating staff, definitely recommend hitting Meguro. Use it as a stepping stone as you explore other Jiro locations if you end up getting hooked. If you want to learn more about the history of this style, check out my eBook. Link below!
